Brian A. Graebe

This year brings the rare convergence of Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day, and they have a surprising complementarity. Continue Reading »

The next pope’s task will be daunting, but he would do well, as he emerges from the Sistine Chapel, to keep first principles in mind: Protect the faith. Continue Reading »

The primary purpose of Mass is to worship God, to give him the glory and adoration that are his due. That holds true whether or not we receive Communion at Mass. Continue Reading »

Can God Be Trusted? Finding Faith in Troubled Times by Thomas D. Williams FaithWords, 224 pages, $19.99 America suffers from a crisis of trust. From the bedroom to the boardroom, fear, suspicion, and that distinctly American self-reliance make the phrase “In God We Trust” ring hollow. To . . . . Continue Reading »

Tolerance is a nice word, but is it a Christian virtue? Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver doesn’t think so, and his claim has occasioned no small amount of protest. In a smug editorial, America magazine recently chastened Chaput for coarsening the tenor of intra-ecclesial discourse. While no call for courtesy and civility should go unheeded, an apology for toleration that ignores its niceties only furthers the intellectual and moral torpor plaguing the public square… . Continue Reading »

In a recently published memoir, The Seal: A Priest’s Story , Fr. Timothy Mockaitis recounts his central role in an unprecedented legal drama. On a fairly routine visit to Oregon’s Lane County Jail, Mockaitis heard the confession of an inmate accused of multiple homicide. Unbeknownst to . . . . Continue Reading »